Styria population reaches record high

Styria had 1,271,764 residents on January 1, 2026, the highest population ever recorded in the Austrian state, ORF reported on Wednesday. Women outnumbered men, while the number of residents aged 100 and over also reached a record.

Styria’s population has grown every year since 2001. However, the latest increase was only 48 people because deaths significantly outnumbered births. The overall rise was driven by a 1.5 percent increase in the number of foreign residents compared with January 1, 2025.

The largest regional increases were recorded in the greater Graz area and Leibnitz district. The sharpest declines were in Murau and Bruck-Mürzzuschlag districts, both of which lost 0.9 percent of their populations.

Women accounted for 643,641 residents and men for 628,123. Voitsberg district had the largest imbalance in favour of women, while Weiz had the highest proportion of men relative to women.

Styria is also becoming older. People under 20 make up less than one-fifth of the population, while those aged 65 and over account for 22.6 percent.

On January 1, 2026, 235 women and 49 men in Styria were at least 100 years old, another record. The oldest Styrian woman was 109 at the time and has since celebrated her 110th birthday, becoming only the second person in the state to reach that age. The oldest Styrian man was 104.

The average Styrian was 45.1 years old. Graz city, with an average age of 41.5, was the youngest district, while Kalsdorf was the youngest municipality at 40.7. Eisenerz was the oldest municipality, with an average age of 56.2. Bruck-Mürzzuschlag, Leoben and Murau also have the oldest populations among Austria’s districts, according to Martin Mayer, head of the state’s statistics and geoinformation department.